‘He never had any airs or graces about him’
A life-long friend of Ricky Hatton and the godfather to his brother’s children is set to pay homage to the boxing legend at a Manchester festival this weekend.
Former world champion boxer Ricky, 46, was found dead at his home in Greater Manchester by his manager on Sunday morning (September 14). Greater Manchester Police said that the death is not being treated as suspicious.
Rob Brierley went to primary school with Ricky and his brother Matthew in Hyde, Tameside, and stayed in touch with the pair ever since. Now a school teacher, Rob also runs the Made in Manchester festival, which Ricky regularly attended.
“I’ve known him for 40 years,” Rob tells the Manchester Evening News. “It’s incredibly difficult to accept that he is gone. It’s been a very emotional few days.”
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This weekend, the Made in Manchester festival will take place at Bredbury St. Marks Cricket Club with an estimated crowd of 4,500. The sell-out event will also, sadly, now feature a tribute to the boxing champion.
“We spoke to the family and they said they’d love it if we did something to honour Ricky,” Rob says. “NK Theatre Arts will be doing a choral tribute to Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger and we’ll also have the tribute act Oasis Supernova playing.
“This was already planned a few months back, but it does sort of feel like it was meant to be now. Ricky loved Oasis, he was a big fan. In fact, the last time I saw him was at their gig in Dublin.
“Two weeks ago, I met up with him there for a catch-up. He was in really good spirits, he was telling jokes and getting selfies with people. He was just his usual jovial self.”
As a school teacher, Rob also taught National Amateur Champion Jack Murphy, who was being professionally trained in the sport by Ricky as well as Blain Younis.
“Six weeks ago, I went up to see Jack training and preparing for his fight and Richard gave us so much time,” Rob explained. “He was always checking in on me, and seeing how I was.
“He knew I had my own battles, and he just put others ahead of himself. That’s who he was.”
At this weekend’s festival, Rob will deliver a speech about Ricky to the sold-out crowd. Catering manager Eddie Osman, who runs the popular Porky Pig food truck and also works regularly with Rob at his events, will also speak about Ricky.
The festival will also feature a tribute to 23-year-old Joel Sheldon, who was a regular attendee of the event. Joel died in June after being hit by a car in June. Dance act K-Klass, one of his favourite performers, will perform at the festival.
Rob says Ricky ‘loved’ attending Made in Manchester and recently recalled how he had shared his upset at being unable to make it to this year’s event. He explained: “Not too long ago, I remember him telling me that he was sad he couldn’t come to the festival this year because he would be busy training for Dubai.”
But Rob said he will always remember one moment in particular at the festival three years ago, when it was held in Dukinfield.
“I remember being at the bar and just hearing someone singing an Oasis song up on stage,” Rob explained. “I just thought ‘woah, the Oasis tribute act don’t sound as good this year’ before realising that it was Ricky.
“He just got up on the stage – it wasn’t prepared at all. But he had the crowd with him the whole way. It was great.”
Another memory Rob has of Ricky was just after the star had taken part in the ITV reality series Dancing on Ice and was keen to show local punters his newly-obtained skating moves by roller-skating around the Cheshire Cheese pub in Gee Cross.
“One of my first memories was when he was 18 and he was fighting at a high level already thinking he was the national champion,” Rob recalls.
In another encounter, he added: “I remember we were in the back of a carpet van on the long journey to a fight, Ricky came out with a black bin bag because he didn’t have any boxing attire. He just had a pair of shorts in this bag with a hole in it. Then he just knocked this talented lad out 30 seconds into the first round. I just thought it was a lot of effort for a 30 second fight.”
But, at the centre of it all, Rob says he will always remember how selfless Ricky was and how he’d always go out of his way for other people – whether they were local charities, fans, family members or people in the community.
“They’d have amazing Sundays after his fights,” he explains. “Everyone would meet up at the pub, have Dodgy Shirt days, and the whole community would turn up to have a pint with him. It was like an open house, there was never a VIP section or anything. He’d just have a good laugh with everyone.
“He is the people’s champion, make no mistake about that. That’s exactly what he is. He never had any airs or graces about him – even when he was earning millions. Nothing was ever too much trouble for him.”
Earlier this week, it was reported that a ‘fitting’ tribute to Ricky was being discussed for Manchester – with some suggestions of a statue.
Asked what Ricky would make of having a statue of himself in his hometown, Rob said: “I think he’d have a proper laugh about it. I think he’d probably want to make sure the statue had a pint of Guinness in one hand and a boxing glove on the other.”
Rob said he hopes that Ricky’s passing will encourage more people to be open with one another about their struggles and speak up when they need support.
“It’s important that people know not to suffer in silence,” he explained. “If one thing can come out of this, it’s to help each other and ask each other if they’re okay, I think that’s something that’s really important.
“We’re going to be highlighting this at the festival at the weekend, as we’ll have Mentell there, who provides discussion groups for men. It’s going to be a really emotional day, but we’re going to make sure we recognise the impact that Ricky had on us all.
“He was a man of the people. A young lad straight from the local estate turned two weight world champion. It’s not something you hear about every day.”
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